Soler climbs to stage win atop Crans-Montana

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Mauricio Soler's career has been hit by a series of injuries and crashes since winning a stage and the climber's jersey at the 2007 Tour de France, but he proved on Sunday that he is still a world class climber by winning stage two of the Tour de Suisse in Crans Montana.

The Movistar rider was one of the strongest riders on the climb to the finish. He was able to go with Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek) and Damiano Cuneo (Lampre-ISD) and then distanced them with a final attack inside the last kilometre. It was his first victory since winning the Vuelta Burgos in 2007.

Cunego tried to win the stage with his own attacks but had to accept second place ahead of Schleck at 12 seconds, while Danilo Di Luca (Katusha) was fourth at 16 seconds. Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) was sixth that 34 seconds, with Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) seventh at 36 seconds. The climb to the Swiss ski resort quickly revealed the real strength and overall ambitions of the riders at the Tour de Suisse.

Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) lost a surprising 1:39, while Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) lost more than 10 minutes.

"I could see that Schleck and Cunego were watching each other and so I took advantage of that," Soler said after becoming the first ever Colombian leader of the Tour de Suisse. "Now I hope to keep the race for a few days."

Schleck on the attack

The 149km stage started with the huge Nufenenpass climb and not surprisingly the riders took the early climb in their stride, riding steadily and staying together until close to the summit.

Matti Breschel (Rabobank Cycling Team) showed that he is recovering from his injury this spring by being the first rider to the summit. However other attacks came on the descent and José Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) and Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) managed to get away from the peloton. Lazlo Bodrogi (TeamType1) tried to get across to them but never managed it and was eventually caught by the peloton.

The duo opened a five-minute gap after the long descent, with 80km to race. But with race leader Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) also riding on the front, there was little chance they would stay away on the climb to the finish. Indeed the gap fell gradually and was only three minutes at the foot of the climb.

Mondory took the second sprint but the speed behind saw a group of 50 riders form the front peloton, with Cancellara happy to ease up and let the Schleck brothers take charge for the climb to the finish.

Jan Bakelands (Omega Pharma-Lotto) tried a move on the climb, but he was caught and so Peter Weening (Rabobank) tried a counter move. He caught the two breakaways but then Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek) blew open the racing with his own attack when there was just 12km to go. Schleck shredded the peloton, with even his own brother Andy being left behind.

Mathias Frank (BMC) jumped away to score the climber's points and sparked an attack by Di Luca and Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) as the road eased. However Schleck was hungry for victory and teammate Jakob Fuglsang led the pursuit and eventually caught the trio with three kilometres to go.

Schleck made a long surge and split the 14-rider group. However he could not get rid of Cunego or Soler, as Di Luca tried to hang too. Schleck responded to Cunego and then to Soler's first attack but could not answer when Soler went again and opened a winning margin. Suddenly with one final kick of the pedals, his problems of the last three seasons were left behind him as quickly as his rivals.

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